In a recent question on a sales and marketing forum a member was asking about ‘brand awareness’ advertising. To the best of my understanding I think she was wondering if advertising just to ‘get your name out there’ is worth it for small businesses.
My answer was that, given her small budget, there was probably no need to worry about doing advertising that only got your name out there when you could run direct response marketing that both generated new business and built brand profile.
It does raise the question though, is a brand useful and if so, how do you promote it?
For most small businesses you’re never going to be in the position of a Nike, Coke or Harley Davidson who’s brands are known worldwide – but that doesn’t mean that you can’t build a brand identity within your niche.
Your brand is more than your logo
Moreover, as an excellent Adrants article points out, brand is much more than simply your logo or other device. Rather, a brand is a promise repeated over time.
When that brand / promise lives up to expectations then the brand grows and prospers. Apple promises sleek, desirable design and this is visible from iMac to iPod to iPhone.
When the promise is not met then the business isn’t successful. Certainly no disaster, but one of Apple’s poorest performers in recent years has been the Mac Mini. Despite the sexy size perhaps the styling was just a little too close to the ‘grey box’ and not close enough to the sleek, sexy and ’show-off-ableness’ of the rest of the Mac line.
In other words, it’s not about absolute superiority but rather relative performance.
Three links:
1. Have some fun with brands here.
2. Post about consistency from Drew’s Marketing Minute
3. Image at top of post from In The Picture Design
